Rockford’s Royal Family Wins At Windy City Challenge

(1-15-17) Last year at this time Shelli McGinley and the Guilford Vikings Cheer team was getting ready for the NIC 10 Championships, a lot has happened in just a year.

McGinley was dismissed unceremoniously in September by RPS 205 (Rockford Public Schools) after the school administration gave into a disgruntled parents of a JV team member. That started a rough time for McGinley and her Guilford Cheer Team.

But it didn’t McGinley, parents of her Guilford cheer parents and their kids to change gears. What looked like the end of the world has now turned into “Somewhere Over The Rainbow“. McGinley went right to work, she found a new gym location, started a new competitive All-Star Squad (Rockford’s Royal Family) and in less than six months competed in their first competition. Most of team is made up up of former Guilford cheerleaders and a sprinkling of members from around the Stateline area. The formula is working too.

The result for the Royal Family was a win at the Windy City Challenge on Saturday, the 93.67 score was the highest ever for a McGinley coached team. The win now gives them an opportunity to be eligible for a bid to the Summit in May at Disney World, the pinnacle of All-Star competitive cheering, Bids will be awarded on Monday night which will be shown on Varsity TV.

Coach McGinley and the Windy City Challenge Trophy

Rockford’s Royal Family Coach Shelli McGinley:

Words cannot describe how truly excited and humbled I am at our first place win today at out very first competition! We are a brand new all star cheer gym, just opened in October 2016. We overcame big obstacles as one of our elite athletes sprained her ankle on Thursday and could not compete. On Friday, we pulled in an alternate and also had another girl learn the routine just this week. All odds were stacked against us. However, these amazing kids I’m blessed to coach, gave it their all today and scored the highest score any team I’ve coached has ever scored! I’m so very proud of this team, these athletes and their wonderful supportive parents! We made this happen together. It was definitely a collaborative effort! We definitely turned Lemons into Lemonade.

It’s an amazing amazing comeback story for everyone involved with Rockford’s Royal Family. Great kids, great coaches, great facilities and a great program.